Cal/OSHA Slaps Disney with $230K Fine

Disneyland has temporarily shut down several rides after state regulators cited the 58-year-old California theme park for injuries to its maintenance contractors.

The Walt Disney Company faces $234,850 in proposed fines for seven safety citations issued Friday (April 12), after a contract worker performing building maintenance on the exterior of Space Mountain ride was seriously injured last November in a fall of more than 20 feet, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Lyght / Wikimedia Commons

A worker cleaning the exterior of Space Mountain at Disneyland Park suffered broken bones after a 20- to 30-foot fall in November 2012. Park officials now face safety penalties stemming from the incident.

The citations—three willful serious, one serious, one repeat, and two general—led park officials to close Space Mountain and two other rides over the weekend “out of caution,” according to reports.

Suzi Brown, Disneyland Resort's director of media relations, said in an emailed statement late Tuesday (April 16): “We have received notification of the citations and are working with OSHA to fully review them.”

A 37-year-old subcontractor was cleaning the exterior of the indoor roller coaster from a boatswain’s chair when he fell 20 to 30 feet down the building, according to Cal/OSHA.

State regulators say the employee fell when an unapproved anchorage point failed.

The worker, who was not identified in reports, reportedly suffered a broken leg and several other broken bones in the accident. He was an employee of HSG Inc., a building curtain wall cleaning and maintenance contractor in Southern California.

HSG Inc.

The seriously injured worker was an employee of HSG Inc., a building curtain wall cleaning and maintenance contractor in Southern California.

“During the investigation, the Division learned that Disneyland Resort had completed ‘Fall Protection Assessment Reports’ in August of 2006 and failed to adequately correct these known fall hazards that existed on the exterior of Space Mountain,” Cal/OSHA said on its website.

Disneyland also failed to have approved anchorages or approved tie-backs for contract employees to attach to, when performing scheduled exterior building maintenance, the safety authorities said.

Ride Closures, Safety Commitment

In the wake of the Cal/OSHA citations, Disneyland Resorts shut down Space Mountain, Soarin’ over California, and the Matterhorn on Sunday (April 14). The Matterhorn has since reopened, reports say.

Brown told media outlets about the voluntary ride closures and said the company was committed to safety.

“We constantly strive to maintain a safe work environment for our cast members and contractors—and we are reviewing certain protocols,” Brown told CBS News. (Employees at the park are known as “cast members.”)

Specifically, “Disneyland Resort allowed employees of HSG Inc. to connect support line(s) and safety line(s) to unapproved anchorages when they cleaned the exterior of Space Mountain from boatswain’s chairs and controlled descent apparatus,” the state agency said.

No Written Assurance, Procedures

CalOSHA says the building owner also failed to provide HSG Inc. written assurance that all of Space Mountain’s safety devices and equipment met regulations for all window cleaning operations before the work began.

In addition, the company did not have a "Operating Procedures and Outline Sheet" for the building as required by law, according to the state agency.

The general citation for those alleged hazards carries a $675 fine.

Disneyland was also issued a general citation, carrying a proposed fine of $450, for failing to ensure that written inspection and maintenance records for the HVAC system on the Space Mountain building were kept for at least five years.

Fire Extinguisher Issues

A repeat citation and a proposed fine of $1,000 were issued for failing to mount, locate and identify all portable fire extinguishers so that they were readily accessible to employees without subjecting them to possible injury.

Cal/OSHA also issued a general citation with a proposed fine of $225 to Disneyland Resorts for failing to ensure portable fire extinguishers in service had a current annual maintenance inspection check.

Fire extinguishers located on the exterior dome of Space Mountain had a last annual maintenance check of November 2006, Cal/OSHA said. Another fire extinguisher had no inspection tag or other indication that it had been annually checked.

Past Citations

In January 2011, Disneyland Resorts was issued seven "other-than-serious" and $2,600 in fines for workplace safety hazards, including those related to hazardous substances and processes, according to OSHA's database.

The Walt Disney Company d/b/a Disneyland Resorts has 15 days from the receipt of its citations to comply or contest the department's findings.

It is unfortunate that injury must occur before site visits happen to identify all kinds of violations to laws meant to protect workers. Bet these fines and 15 day compliance deadline wake up those considering only fast return to business as usual (highly profitable with millions visiting this playsite).

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